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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26459413">Three musketeers and papa (and fun friends)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaybirdTheAuthor/pseuds/JaybirdTheAuthor'>JaybirdTheAuthor</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft - Fandom, Technoblade - Fandom, Wilbur Soot - Fandom, tommyinnit - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Family, Found Family, Gen, I just want wholesome (for the most part), Like it’s minecraft but they live in it, adopted family, family au, i read a few of these and decided on a longer AU, im really sad and I just wanted to write something, irl Minecraft I guess, my cat say purrrrrr</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:35:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,884</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26459413</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaybirdTheAuthor/pseuds/JaybirdTheAuthor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Techno is a monster hunter, goes out by night to protect the village him and his family live in, goes out under the cover of darkness to make sure everyone he loves is safe (and of course for emeralds).</p>
<p>Tommy is scared of monsters, been scared of them since a bad experience left him completely traumatised at the very idea of them.</p>
<p>Wilbur is of the opinion eventually you can turn a zombie back to another villager, of the opinion someday monsters will be no more with someone finding a way to turn them back to sensible humans.</p>
<p>They’re the three musketeers.</p>
<p>Phil is their dad, just trying the best with this mess because good god having three sons is hard enough but when it’s the three musketeers, the trio of absolute chaos, he just thinks he needs a nap, or two, or seventeen, someone give him a break.</p>
<p>Featuring fun friends! And trauma!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dave | Technoblade &amp; TommyInnit, Ph1lza &amp; Wilbur Soot, Wilbue Soot &amp; Technoblade, Wilbur Soot &amp; TommyInnit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>279</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Waking up at the break of dawn to his eldest brother, Wilbur, talking with his father in the bottom of the house they live in just quiet enough for words to not be made out beyond the calm tone of their speech, Tommy quickly runs a hand through his hair and presses his feet on the floor to go into the other room. While looking over to the last bed not occupied by himself or Wilbur, he finds his other older brother, Techno, must be somewhere else at the current moment, maybe even with his father on the ground floor. He seems to either be here by morning or have left for Church by then, the second one happens rather often. He comes back tired and stays up for a while then sleeps a bit during the day, Tommy concludes this is nothing special and simply makes his bed, deciding to make Techno’s bed as well for no other reason than to make fun of him for forgetting to and making his little brother baby him just a tiny bit later when he comes home from his Church journey and comes into their shared bedroom to catch even more sleep he somehow always needs, though just an hour or two instead of another full tenner, even if his low energy seems like it could come from the fact he’s always tired, always sleepy, even when they have nothing to do all day and have done jackshit but stay in the room and go to Church in Techno’s case.</p>
<p>The brothers never really cared about the fact they had to share the floor above the ground one, the whole floor an open space with their things and beds and a wardrobe. Their father, Phil, has always been the one with the room downstairs, a door opening to the back after the sitting room kitchen combo falls behind, his privacy is a given since he is a father of three boys and older than the rest of them though still youthful and capable. </p>
<p>Tommy practically slides down the stairs after finding himself some clothes to wear today, trying his best to be quiet enough to maybe listen in on their speech, on their conversation, hoping to hear what the two oldest in the house even talk about when he’s asleep. Truth be told, he knows they easily start sugarcoating and being difficult when the youngest comes around, as if wishing he didn’t know whatever they spoke about. Sometimes Wilbur could be smug about the fact he knew more than Tommy did but that is a rare occurrence and nowadays, with Tommy growing older, those subjects have become more of a rarity. Something about this though, Wilbur deliberately going while he sleeps, screams it may be too so called ‘adult’ for him even if he is NOT a child.</p>
<p>“I just think he should know,” Tommy hears Wilbur’s voice speak, calm as when he slid down, clearly the blond boy hasn’t been noticed crouching down in the kitchen yet, “What if sometime he finds out, because he will, and feels betrayed?”</p>
<p>“He’s young, Wilbur,” Phil speaks, Tommy figuring they may be talking about him with a scowl. He’s not that young, he can walk, he can talk, he can understand what they’re going on about with little context, “I know you care about your brother and I know you want to tell him, I can’t stop you if you do, but consider what it may actually make him feel to go through this, to hear about it. He doesn’t know.”</p>
<p>“It’s your fault he doesn’t,” Wilbur speaks, slowly, venomous but calm kind of angry, the scary kind where he truly seems angry but isn’t yelling or swearing or breaking things, “It’s your fault he doesn’t know about Dream and Techno, they’re saving all of us and Tommy doesn’t even know his brother leaves! You and him are lying to his face while he leaves!”</p>
<p>Tommy squints his eyes in confusion, leave? His brother leaves? Sure he knows that, Techno is away often, but the word leaves feels so radical for an early prayer. Why should he know about Techno’s early Church visits in the eyes of his eldest brother? And who is Dream</p>
<p>“Wilbur, please, I know,” Phil speaks, softly. Tommy is slightly surprised when he hears tiny sobs leaving Wilbur and what he assumes to be his father and his eldest brother hugging each other as Wilbur whispers, barely heard by Tommy but making him slightly confused,</p>
<p>“I just don’t want Tommy to find out by seeing him hurt. I don’t want him to be hurt, dad, or killed.”</p>
<p>The last word stabs Tommy, slowly slicing him open and leaving him vulnerable as he thinks of the concept? Techno? Killed?</p>
<p>“He won’t. He’s careful and he has Dream, Dream won’t let him get killed as Techno won’t let Dream get killed. They’ll be fine.”<br/>“I know... dad I’m sorry I’m not—I didn’t—I just.”<br/>“You’re scared, aren’t you?”<br/>“........... yes? I just, he’s our brother and—I don’t want him to get hurt but I don’t want—I want Tommy to know, I don’t want him to—I don’t even know what I feel, dad! I’m scared for Techno and I’m confused and I feel like Tommy’ll feel horrible if he finds out without someone helping him understand and if he doesn’t he’ll be confused and angry and he won’t—he might do something stupid, dad.”<br/>“Wilbur, look at me.”</p>
<p>Tommy hears the sobs start to stop as their father continues to talk, feeling slightly guilty for listening in but too glued in by now, interested mostly in who the hell is Dream. They have been mentioned multiple times now and he doesn’t have any concept on who the hell the two men are talking about.</p>
<p>“that’s one great thing about you, you have so much empathy for both of them, for everyone around, you have empathy to practically spare. But you need to trust your brother, Techno said he wanted to keep it from him, he’ll tell when he feels ready. You may not believe me but we had a long conversation about this, Techno going out at night to fight the monsters is brave and he doesn’t want his little brother knowing for reasons I find very understandable—.”</p>
<p>Monsters, Tommy’s brain is stuck on that word. Skeletons, zombies, creepers, spiders, all the things he knows every single person in this town finds absolutely terrifying. He remembers the one time he was out at night when he was maybe seven and Techno carried him home after a skeleton shot his shoulder. He even unconsciously touched the spot on his shoulder, though it has been a couple of years since the arrow pierces through him and Techno removes it under the cover of night because Wilbur was holding a torch for him to see the wound better, holding Tommy in place with his other hand as he twisted in agony.</p>
<p>His brother fights those monsters? The ones Tommy has nightmares about knocking the wooden sword out of his hand and killing him, especially skeletons with their empty eyes and silence other than the rustling of their bones, the ones that pull their arrow back and make Tommy freeze in absolute fear when he looks at one, the ones that are the reason he was left at the Church to be picked up by Phil when he was a baby, the ones that are making Tommy almost hyperventilate even hearing his brother could come in contact with them and could get hurt and fuck why was he never told about this, why didn’t he know his brother went off at night to fight those things? Does his brother even go to Church in the morning? Or is it all a false reality for him being outside slaying the last as the sun comes over the horizon? Is anything he thought about his brother real?</p>
<p>“How much did you hear?” He hears Wilbur speaks, looking up with slight tears in his eyes as his oldest brother goes from annoyance his little brother listened (with maybe a tiny bit of him feeling glad about the fact he heard some of it, even if Wilbur prefer either of his brothers would refrain from hearing or seeing him cry) to just a soft, caring, look with how his face looks, feeling a bang of guilt for even talking about such a thing.</p>
<p>“H-He.....,” Tommy starts, getting a hug and shushing from his brother as he starts to sob. He’s much like Wilbur, he rather not sob (though neither is as extreme about this as the middle brother in his common stoicism), he rather not show him emotions off like a badge of honour when to him it’s a badge of shame instead. He’s one to laugh, one to throw jokes, but the image of the skeleton mercilessly loading his bow with his empty eyes looking to him with nothing but pure intent to kill him is in his head, stabbing at his brain and making a phantom pain hit his shoulder in waves as he cries into his older brothers chest, finding his father’s arm holding onto him as well as he sobs. He doesn’t know why this made him so upset, his brother is fine, his brother has come home even with the subtext of him having been doing this for a while. But even with all that the skeleton that hurt him won’t leave his head, won’t stop cackling soundlessly, motionlessly, in his head as the wound bleeds, let’s out more blood and blood and blood and blood and fuck he remembers nearly fainting in his brothers arms as his normally monotonous voice called him an idiot with a high pitch, taking him home and screaming at Wilbur to help him with their dad not home, back to monotone almost immediately after his scream was done.</p>
<p>Thinking back on it, he is stupid, he should’ve seen his brother slay the skeleton but his vision was blurry with blood loss. The skeleton would’ve struck him again and again until satisfying itself and finding him dead if it had not been slain.</p>
<p>“Why is he crying?” Techno’s voice speaks from the doorway, monotonous as ever watching his family hug each other, “Did someone die?”</p>
<p>What Techno doesn’t expect is for Tommy to jump up and run to hug him, even more surprised by the slight ‘thank you’ as he slowly pets Tommy’s head with absolute confusion, only understanding when his dad speaks a slight ‘he knows’, making the pink haired man no less confused about what the absolute fuck he is supposed to do when his little brother is slowly stopping his sobs and silently clinging onto him like a koala that just doesn’t want to let go.</p>
<p>“So who wants tea?” Wilbur speaks, pressing his hands together as he senses the awkward environment around him, standing in the kitchen.</p>
<p>“Are you wounded?” asks Phil, Tommy getting off Techno as his brother shakes his head.</p>
<p>“A tiny scratch here and there, Dream carried tonight,” Techno responds, remembering how his friend decided to try to blow up a creeper but got reckless and flew into the air. If he wasn’t wearing a mask, Techno is absolutely positive he would’ve looked fucking terrified as the explosion launched him into the air and landed him on the flower field they had been calling ‘pretty pog’ earlier, Dream expressing a need to get cornflowers for his colourblind friend as an apology for something he refused to say anything about, he refused to name any reason he had upset him but expressing fear he would be ‘locked out of their house until Sapnap comes home’.</p>
<p>And as the family sits down for a cup of tea, there’s a slight silence before Wilbur ‘accidentally’ pours water on Tommy's plate and they start fighting about it, Phil and Techno talking about the middle brother's night as he almost falls asleep against his own hand.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The scientist by Coldplay but it’s not by Coldplay and it’s not the scientist</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi I had to do a lot so I took forever to update but now I should be active so hell yeah</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The silence between the two boys is uncanny, normally Dream would be filling the air with silly jokes and funny little words, he’d be talking about his day and encouraging him to speak as well, to talk about all the things that happened to him and his brothers and so on but now they’ve been fairly silent for the whole night with sun slowly coming up to start burning the creatures with spiders turning into friends instead of enemies as if the nightmare of the night didn’t even happen.</p><p>“Techno,” Dream starts, putting his shield up to catch an arrow into it, skeleton burning after he has missed his target as if he never had existed at all, only evidence of his pained existence the bone on the ground and the arrow Dream rips for his own purposes.</p><p>“What is it?” Techno questions, stabbing a creeper with his eyes continuing to view the other man even as the monster comes closer and gets stabbed. He never takes his eyes off the other, sensing that this may well be important.</p><p>Dream seems to deliberately avoid his eyes, looking anywhere but. Techno can tell, even with the mask on Dreams face not giving him a complete understanding of what his face is saying, that this is something that is absolutely huge to his patrol partner.</p><p>“I’m leaving South,” he speaks after a moment, looking in the direction he named with a compass in his hand now. It reminds Techno of things he can’t quite place, perhaps birds flying south for warmth and comfort as cold strikes most places he’s seen.</p><p>“How come?” He questions his blond friend, looking in the direction opposite of the compasses pointing, South. He doesn’t know much about the South, every once in a while he hears a story of a traveler or another accounting things from up there, “And why are you going South?”</p><p>“I need to—I need to find some purpose in life. I’m not sure what that is, I’m not sure if you understand what I need. I’m—I want to go to find myself something more than the villages, the fields and the trees,” Dream speaks, Techno nodding slowly as he speaks, watching him with a surprising amount of understanding, “As for why I’m going South, are you aware of the story of the Nether?”</p><p>“The folktale?” Techno questions, continuing after Dream nods, “the one about the portal that screams with souls forever lost in there, forevermore trapped between worlds assisting people to their fate? Yes I’m aware.”</p><p>“It’s said to be South,” Dream explains, pointing up towards a mountain with the unsaid explanation being that whatever he is looking for is behind the mountain in question, “The portal. You just have to light it on fire and then you’re free to roam between the worlds as much as you want so long you don’t get trapped in either dimension via the fire going out. Or worse, stand in the portal as the fires burn out.”</p><p>“Are you going alone?” Techno questions, looking in the direction with intrigue, “Or would you like me to come with you? It’s always better with two swords than one, I hear there’s a lot of danger there.”</p><p>“As there is here,” Dream speaks, fiddling with his sword now with interest before pressing the swords blunt head against techno’s shoulder, “They need you here, I need myself there. Easy. You stay and I’ll come back talking about the burning fires and the opera song of the portal.”</p><p>“Understandable,” Techno speaks, monotonous before looking over to him for a moment, sighing, “can I ask you a favour? Before you go?”</p><p>“Depends,” Dream starts, laughing before looking at his long time friend. He doesn’t exactly know what to say as his eyes don’t waver, he doesn’t laugh (rather usual for him—he shows amusement unlike Dream does), “Of course you may.”</p><p>“Say goodbye to Tommy, Clay,” Techno speaks, looking away, he doesn’t exactly like showing the care he has for his little brother and how much said little brother likes Clay. Sure, he may not know Dream and Clay to be the same but they’re both aware that Clay as Clay is not far from being a friend to the youngest brother, almost a brother as well if it weren’t for him not living with them, “He’d miss you, I can’t stand his whining about fucking everything. You would be added stress, especially him ranting you didn’t say goodbye.”</p><p>“I don’t wish to not say goodbye,” Dream speaks, slowly, looking over to him, “Not Wilbur, not Tommy, not Phil for all he’s done, not Sapnap, not George. Not Fundy, not Tubbo. I’ll say goodbye to everybody before I take my leave, you’re the third I’ve told. Sapnap knows, said I better come back alive, George knows and said he could come with me. It’s just the rest.”</p><p>“Why not go now?” </p><p>—————————————————</p><p>As Techno unlocks the door, stepping into the house with Clay on his tail, Tommy slides down the stairs with a yell of ‘you’re home’ for his brother, stopping as he spots the male behind his brother.</p><p>“I um,” Clay starts, looking at the questioning look in Tommy’s eyes as he fiddles with the mask in his hand, looking between Techno and Tommy with Wilbur probably being in the kitchen, “I came to say bye, for now of course, since I’m leaving.”</p><p>“What?” Says a voice from the kitchen, the trio seeing Wilbur walk out with a sponge in his hand, “where in the name of hell are you going?”</p><p>“South,” Dream answers, as if this question were the most usual one ever asked of him. The most usual one he’s ever been told to answer at least, relaxed even with a tightness in his chest for the fact this is a goodbye for now, “I’m going to find the nether portal.”</p><p>Wilbur and Dream haven’t always gotten along, it’s known to everybody in this place. It would be natural for Techno and Dream to be the ones with the rivalry but it’s definitely Wilbur and Dream instead, no matter why that is. They have always just been rivals, they’ve always just been friendly but competitive, they’ve always just gone to war with sticks for this hill Wilbur decided to call ‘L’manberg’. It’s just always been like this, ever since Dream came into the village as a child.</p><p>So it’s quite a surprise to have Wilbur be the one to hug him, wishing him luck and telling him he has a map of the mountains if he needs one.</p><p>“Will,” Dream starts as the other boy pushes the map into his hands, looking up to stare at him. He’s not short but Wilbur is a giant so that’s more than justified, “Thank you.”</p><p>“Come back alive, okay?” Wilbur speaks, looking at the dirty blond haired boy for just a moment longer before letting his eyes wonder elsewhere, “And if you see monsters in the Nether, write everything down for me?”</p><p>He’s always been a scientist, Wilbur thinks of himself as one at least, the fact zombies are undead people and skeletons are people without a skin, organs, no muscles—it always intrigued him to hear from travellers about seeing spawners somewhere or having fought Endermen (black men with long limbs and purple eyes—beautiful, sort of like standing shadows, taller than him as well) that could pick up things. He believes, from youth, that those tall figures may just be humans, may just be people at least. And one say he will find a way to make them conscious.</p><p>“I will,” Dream speaks, Wilbur nodding to Tommy and falling silent. Tommy bites his lip, Dream and Tommy facing each other for a moment before Tommy grins.</p><p>“When you come back, Clay,” Tommy speaks, speaking Clay out like a curse word with a smile to show he isn’t actually mad, “You might finally get a tan, you fit in the snow.”</p><p>“I am significantly darker than you,” Dream speaks with a roll of his eyes, “You should go if I can tan there. Maybe you would get over that darned monster fear of yours too—exposure therapy.”</p><p>“We plan on it,” Wilbur speaks to the silence, Tommy screaming a ‘we’re what?!’ with Techno almost finding amusement in how he screeches—not quite.</p><p>“When I come back, Tommy will be filling my space as Techno’s partner,” Dream speaks with a small wheeze, “I have to find Phil real quick and Fundy—Tubbo too I think. I’m leaving around midday probably.”</p><p>“I’ll be horribly alone again, Dream, I hardly think this is fair,” Techno speaks, completely monotonous with Dream wheezing and tapping his shoulder as if to comfort before disappearing out of the door.</p><p>“HE’S DREAM?” Tommy screeches, looking between his brothers, “AND WE’RE FUCKING WHAT???”</p><p>“Don’t ask me,” Techno speaks, lifting his hands, “Wilbur is really the mother here, I’m more of a distant uncle.”</p><p>“Phil and I were thinking about it,” Wilbur admits, almost shameful looking to have to be the one explaining, “We were talking about taking him to a zombie spawner after training and having healing potions just in case.”</p><p>“Aren’t you a pacifist, Will?” Techno questions, “You call zombies people and all that.”</p><p>“If they aren’t attacking you, asshole,” Wilbur speaks, looking to Tommy for a moment before shrugging, “They’ll come to existence to die and he really needs it. Maybe I’m a bit selfish if I care about my tiny little brother more than zombies but he really really needs it and I’m not even sure how we would get him to be better otherwise.”</p><p>“I’m not saying it to say it’s a bad idea, I’m saying it’s more of a me idea. Techno ideas stolen by Wilbur, the novel.”</p><p>“Techno, you steal my ideas all the time, there is a library of Wilbur ideas stolen by Techno. Don’t try this shit!” Wilbur speaks waving his hands rather aggressively.</p><p>“I thought up farming potatoes and you went around acting like you got the idea out of nothing.”</p><p>“Well you, mr. Techno, stole my fucking idea about the fucking mining with fucking dynamite, asshole.”</p><p>“You steal my ideas more times than I have fingers for.”</p><p>“You steal mine because you can’t handle not being good at something and whenever I’m better you steal it to appear better at something, you take my clout!”</p><p>“I tell people who I got the idea from.”</p><p>Tommy finds it funny how the duo have such similar yet different voices, speaking patterns making them so different more than anything.</p><p>“So do I! But you always—.”</p><p>“You really don’t, I always say when you are the best.”</p><p>“You couldn’t admit I won at hide and seek!”</p><p>“Because you went outside the area.”</p><p>“Technically I was inside it,” Wilbur speaks, Tommy looking at his brothers in amusement with Wilbur showing genuine emotion and Techno speaking more like he’s disinterested with slight emotions, “Techno, the line technically was where I was.”</p><p>“Yes, in the most technical sense, but half of you was over it and based on principle—,” Techno explains.</p><p>“Is this that one Monday tournament again?” Tommy questions. He was actually too young to be a part but back ages ago teenagers from a few villages would gather together and have this friendly fight of sorts once in a while on Monday with point counting. Well one time the point counting got fucked and like six people were supposed to win but actually two did and it was a whole mess Tommy was so glad to get to watch (with Tubbo actually—they always planned going as a team but it got cancelled before they could do it once because someone got really injured) but nonetheless it had bruised his big brothers ego a bit to be someone <br/>who should have won but didn’t but then again shouldn’t have and it was just a mess you had to be there for.</p><p>“Boys, boys, calm down,” Phil speaks from the doorway to both the older sons, making both pipe down immediately. For once, in his life, it’s not Tommy being told of, he feels like celebrating.</p><p>“Okay, dad,” Techno speaks, though absolutely monotone in delivery, “We were supposed to train Tommy, Wilbur?”</p><p>“Yeah, we should start tomorrow because I have work, then train him around ten?”</p><p>“Am or pm?”</p><p>“I’ll be awake for both, you?” Wilbur questions, Techno acting like this is the weirdest question ever asked of him.</p><p>“I don’t sleep? There’s monsters around ten though, am would be better.”</p><p>“That really isn’t good for you, Techno,” Phil speaks, caring voice immediately on show, “Maybe you should sleep while we do that?”</p><p>“Dad,” he speaks, looking his father in the eye, “I know you’re saying this with no ill intent but I have never felt more left out in my life and I am considerably lonely with Dream every night.”</p><p>“You need a girlfriend,” Wilbur speaks, Techno turning his head with the speed of light with a pure expression of terror (terror by techno standards anyway)</p><p>“Wilbur, you couldn’t have a worse idea if you tried, I would rather die alone than get one of those.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Born to die 1: The Zombie spawner</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Guy who mostly writes people running away writes a phobic child fighting zombies with his family—is it pog? Or bruh?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Are you sure this is a good idea?” questions Tommy, slowly going down the stairs with Phil behind him, Techno leading and Wilbur right in front of the youngest. His legs are struggling not to give out from their shake, holding onto the wall for dear life. He does appreciate techno being here, he really admires the fact he can be here for him and cares enough. Damn, if clay was here, the duo are both just awesome in his eyes. He’d feel better but this is pretty good too, doesn’t mean he isn’t anxious as hell. Techno both calms him and adds anxiety, a two sided sword.</p><p>“Yeah,” Techno responds, taking out his sword and opening a door with Wilbur politely ducking slightly just to make sure he doesn’t hit his face, holding a torch to light their way.</p><p>Tommy is next, increasingly speedy to practically hide under Wilbur’s arm. Wilbur isn’t exactly good at fighting, he doesn’t think, he’s more of a pacifist. However, in the ideal situation, he can push Wilbur on the spawner then push Phil aside and run—not that he is seriously thinking about it, they have Techno and Techno won’t let him get hurt, Techno is too good for that, Techno is talented at this shit, he’ll protect him—that thought makes him so safe yet so embarrassed.  Phil won’t let them get hurt either, he supposes, Phil is pretty good too, he and Wilbur are safe. They’re safe, safe, he has to stop before he starts hyperventilating, zombies aren’t even the worst. Skeletons are so so so much worse, dead eyes and clanking bones. They’re so tall, their bows look you in the eye and when their arms clank you’re done for—they’re loading their bow and next hit is an arrow unless you’re fast. Skeletons are ruthless killers, horrible undead creatures unable to feel anything but blood lust in their bones. Zombies are easier—zombies are slow and smell but like you would assume, not as strong (at least Tommy has heard so). Techno talks about them with absolute and complete ease, they seem easy, Tommy won’t be in too much danger and once he flees to the surface there will be nothing opposing him. </p><p>“Alright,” Techno speaks, watching the spawner before quickly turning his eye to the torch, watching how the flame goes up and down. Wilbur is quick to click his fingers in front of him, a passive aggressive approach from anyone but Wilbur. Wilbur does shit like this a lot, it’s pretty clear it’s a joking way to get his attention. </p><p>“Tommy, pull out the sword, okay?” Phil explains to him quickly, his two older siblings already too absorbed in something different than helping him—this is why Phil is the caretaker, he genuinely doesn’t just move on from something because something else is more entertaining. He even helps Tommy when he holds the sword wrong, helping him lower his hand without a word of discouragement with putting his left hand on it as well, “so what you’re going to do is right over your left shoulder and then slice, first at least, we can learn one hand after you can do it with two. It’s sort of like the hitting spider eyes with the stick Tubbo and you used to play.”</p><p>He lines it up, waiting a moment more before a zombie spawns. His hands are shaking, looking the green skinned man in the eye with it going towards Wilbur (the closest of them) after their staring competition completes. Tommy breathes in and out, swinging only to miss by the smallest margin. He feels almost mad, doing the same thing over and over again until he finally hits. One, two, three, dead. The undead turns into nothingness, only a piece of meat and powder on the floor.</p><p>“Perhaps you do better one handed, take the left hand off.”</p><p>He tries again, this time with only one of his hands gripping the blade with his heartbeat still beating in his ears—though notably less so, his ears feeling less like he is going to bleed out his brain in tsunami waves. The zombie spawns, his battling of the zombie immediate. He swings his sword, still clumsy, approaching with tiny chicken steps before he finally is close enough to hit. One, two, three. Dead.</p><p>“Alright, don’t swing it over your shoulder, swing it from the front. May be easy if you’re going to go for the a lot of quick attacks strategy.”</p><p>He isn’t sure he understands but he doesn’t want to question, wildly swinging his blade after the zombie has approached him—only to get hit by the zombie. He doesn’t know why it hurts even though physically it didn’t really harm him nearly as much as the arrow, it was a weak hit he could expect from Tubbo when they’re playing around—but somehow it just hurts worse than it should, he feels like he is going to be sick just from one hit and just freezes in place for a moment. It’s all happening in seconds, seconds he can’t quite place—it could be hours if not for the fact everything around him moved only for seconds of time. Within those seconds after the hit, he does a few things including immediately dropping his sword out of almost a reflex and backing away, legs shaking and scared until he finally falls backwards from the lack of stability in his legs, how they’re shaking like cats houses and quickly going back in a way that doesn’t allow a second to look back behind him—panic running through him enough he probably wouldn’t think to anyway. Never again, never again, never again, never again, fuck fuck fuck fuck.</p><p>Techno is quick to kill the zombie, one swift sweep of his sword and it has died at Techno’s feet, a heroic moment with ease that doesn’t work to make Tommy feel better about the fact he fell backwards avoiding what Techno is so completely calm and collected around. Tommy really doesn’t want to be the weakest of them all, Wilbur knows how to fight better than him and he is not interested in doing in ever—he has never done such explicit practice and Tommy is still fucking worse. He’s fucking still shaking as Wilbur takes him from underneath his arms and lifts him up to his feet, quick to give him back his sword with a slight smile and a hand gripping his to calm him down a little bit (he genuinely does appreciate it even if he isn’t going to admit that—sort of trying to get over his shock by putting on a brave face for now until he can finally admit how fucking terrified he was just now, how terrifying that was to him. Phil gives him healing, helping him heal. It sort of helps him calm down a little bit, still close to tearing up but now not as shaky—doesn’t mean he wants to be anywhere near this fucking place.</p><p>“Can we leave?” Tommy asks Phil, looking to him with the tears in his eyes only to get a shake on the older man’s head as a response. Wilbur is quick to step in, telling him that if Tommy really thinks it’s necessary for him to leave then they will go for the day, Techno standing there without an expression on his face through the whole expression before slaying the next zombie. He feels sort of pathetic being so close to tears and failing, it feels like he just fucked up really damn bad. Kinda like that time he made fun of Quackity’s lisp as a kid and people were really mad at him and his brain couldn’t place what he did wrong by doing it. But like, worse? Because he failed visibly at something everyone else in his family knows how to do and he just panicked about it instead, made Techno kill it. He doesn’t know why he is so taken by feeling so useless right now, he really admires Techno for being so fearless maybe.</p><p>Even before he knew Techno would fight monsters (not that he learned long ago), he knew Techno was stupidly brave. Not in a way that you expect, he isn’t outspoken or quick to suggest something opposing a crowd—he’s easy to peer pressure, Tommy has used it hundreds of times to mock his older brother, but Techno truly is so very brave. He’d never be able to say how much he admires him, maybe that’s moee of the pain of the situation than he realised, but he really thinks his brother is so brave and heroic and ready to do anything for the increasingly grey morals of his—Techno is like the strongest person he knows and fuck he has done so much dumb shit in front of him but something about this situation, Techno being so silent as if judging his inability. It’s weird for it to hurt more than the pain of the punch, it shouldn’t... but issue is Tommy is so fucking far from being typical and embarrassment hurts him so so much more than it should—especially the brother he considers to be an idol of sorts, the most brave person he knows. His phobia does hurt, fuck, it does. But the idea of disappointing him hurts so fucking much too—almost as much. And he doesn’t realise how he didn’t know this before—how he didn’t know this would hurt. Techno has already seen him hurt but he was a tiny kid, now he’s about to weep the same way.</p><p>He grabs the sword, gripping it and looking over to the middle brother, deep breaths in and out before he gets to the spawner again and beats at the zombies, trying his best to think of them as things he would rather beat and be around like wood or wool or George. One two—dead. One two three—dead. One two—dead. One two—dead. One two three four—dead. One two—dead. One two—dead. One two—dead. It’s going so much better and it makes Tommy feel less anxious to get his blade to end their lives. He actually feels pretty awesome, he is kinda like techno and that’s super cool.</p><p>“You’re doing pretty good,” Techno speaks, Tommy looking over to him, “try swinging slightly higher—you’re hitting their feet. You get better damage hitting higher.” </p><p>Tommy nods, going for what techno is suggesting without a second thought for it before he yet again is staring one in the eye and feeling more anxious before getting his blade to cut its head off— one hit death. He kind of feels cool, zombies aren’t that bad. He’s pretty sure he likes zombies as much as you can like something actively looking to kill you—something actively looking to hurt you and make you feel like there’s nothing but fear until everything is dark and scary, they’re so much easier and less terrifying than the skeletons. He doesn’t like their smell, not them getting close, but he’s starting to maybe stand it just a tiny bit, more with every stroke of his sword across the zombies.</p><p>He hopes they’re proud of him, maybe the other two would know how to do it and even Wilbur would do better than him but he’s just happy to be able to stand by himself just a little bit more. He admires being capable of standing up on two feet, the fact he can hold the sword at least a bit. If he were in the mood to joke, he would be laughing and telling them that he is coming for Techno’s title. He bets he would laugh, or at least sound bemused he doubts he’s funny enough to get a genuine laugh from someone who doesn’t necessarily like laughing, and tell him that maybe someday he will succeed in the thing he is threatening to do if he trains another one hundred years—it’s common for him to say the number one hundred to match his skills in things, it’s almost a joke to all of them at this point.</p><p>“You think this is good for now? They’re—they’re starting to take a moment to spawn,” Wilbur explains, looking between the two others and then Tommy. Okay maybe he is starting to feel bad for the zombies, that isn’t anybody’s business but his own. He isn’t exactly sure what he would say about it if somebody asked him to describe what about the monsters being slain pulls at his heartstrings. If some of that makes itself a part of his psyche because Techmo, Jschlatt and Fundy  are people who have parts of mobs to them, people that made him think with their humanity from a pretty young boy. Especially Techno, he doesn’t know why the pig mix doesn’t look like any pig he has seen or why Techno seems so much more like a monster than the rest of his hybrid acquaintances—he wonders if Techno is a mob instead sometimes even if he’s quick to dismiss the thought, they always assumed he just has weird hyprid features and is only half from a mob. Maybe it’s their self awareness, his close friends and brothers that is, made him realise that maybe the monsters around him could also turn conscious. Maybe not as, maybe not as human, even if they definitely look more human than the trio. Fundy has the ability to understand he doesn’t want to be a girl for fucks sake, the common sense to understand most things around him and the ability to identify himself into a minority—he has a very human thought with many features of a fox, his brain is very human and maybe better than most of them even. He wonders if monsters, left alone to live, get the same kind of thought. He heard endermen can hold items, rocks or dirt or leaves or branches or whatever they get their hands on, and that was the moment he started thinking about it they all have a high functioning brain instead of just the thought process they thought. Or if they can be given that thought process somehow. He tends to overthink so who knows if it actually is possible—probably not. But if it will, people around him and the world around them will change and perhaps the world will become so much safer.</p><p>“I agree,” Techno responds, looking over to his older brother. Whatever it may be, he tends to listen to his older brother when it feels like he won’t get hurt by it. He assumes it’s him being territorial, he’s grown up with Wilbur and thus keeping him fairly safe is sort of an automatic thought in his head—if he could call it a thought, it’s an instinct. The same goes for Phil, the same overprotectiveness. And he guesses Tommy, though him being the newest addition even when it has already been a while makes him less intrusively protective. It’s kinda like that one time with Dream taking Techno’s crown and Techno blindly attacking him at the joke until he held it within his hands. It’s probably not normal to be so weirdly materialistic, especially when people are treated like an item like that. But then again it is an important item to him, one he has had since his first memories. He’s pretty sure he has the thing since birth, he had it all his childhood with Phil and Wilbur and Phil said explicitly that he found him with it in hand. He likes to think, even if it isn’t his thing to be sappy, that it means something wherever he is from originally. He wants to think his mother or father didn’t want to leave him, he wasn’t abandoned to be taken in by Phil because he wasn’t wanted but out of a necessity, and the crown is kind of like a parting gift that shows his parents loved him or something like that. Stupid idea, as if that were likely. He’s pretty sure his parents were dead, he was found somewhere and thrown away because he looks like a pig and Phil was the first person with enough heart to give him a chance. But that doesn’t explain the crown, it giving him a weird kind of hope that it does mean something it fits perfectly on his grown head and that he wasn’t left empty handed instead. </p><p>“Maybe be better before the sword breaks,” agrees Phil, taking Tommy’s hand and starting to walk out before realising he had neglected to praise the child as much as the youngest boy deserves. He thinks it’s a positive way to raise children, having them feel acknowledged: he isn’t always the greatest father alive since three boys are hectic especially back when they were younger and he is just one man trying his best with how his three sons are so different from each other and him and both hard and easy to understand depending on the moment—easy and hard to comfort. But dammit, positive vibes for a child has always been a thing he has stood by with every mistake he makes, they deserve to know he’s proud of what they did (first few times Wilbur, the one with any memory of his past at all, heard him say he was proud he cried and told him thank you—it was when he decided he would do it more often to make them feel appreciated as people with strengths and weaknesses and lines that are somehow harder for one than the others). “You did great, Tommy, I’m very proud of you! You are learning really quickly, maybe soon you can go outside with me or techno and maybe find a few creepers, I know this was really hard and we could’ve gone significantly slower than we did.”</p><p>“I think it was good,” Tommy speaks, looking at his father, “I mean that was fucking scary but you know what? It was actually pretty fucking good to get done with. And maybe I—it’s a little bit less scary out there? Not a lot but at least I know zombies are noobs.”</p><p>‘Not the baby ones,’ Phil wants to warn but keeps his mouth shut for now since Tommy seems to have found this good enough, smiling instead, “That’s good! One day you’ll realise none of them are all that strong, especially if you have us with you. Because they aren’t all that scary if you know you can take them on.”</p><p>“I think they’ll always be scary for him,” Wilbur explains, looking over to his little brother, “Not to the degree they are now but he probably will always at least be somewhat afraid. And that’s okay.”</p><p>“Wilbur, you have a diary where your emotions are ranked from one to ten not in order of the things happening—I don’t trust any psychological analysis you give.”</p><p>“How do those even correlate? I’m organised about my emotions and that’s somehow making me incapable of understanding that fear like that doesn’t just completely fade when you know how to defend yourself, especially when something goes wrong. Those are not the same thing.”</p><p>“I’m just saying, those are subtle signs something is in fact fucking wrong with you.”</p><p>They continue to climb to the surface in silence, the bickering between the two brothers evidently more quiet until it stops all together, all until they’re up on the surface with the sun just below mid sky, showing they spent significant time in front of the spawner with Techno showing another sign in yawning, stretching his arms above his head and blinking quickly at the sunlight hitting his face. The way the day is shining and bright doesn’t exactly attract him, he feels like the zombie from the fairytale where it fell in love with the sun but couldn’t be out for it so it burned so they never got to know one another until the zombie died and the sun wept for weeks, making everything flood for her long long lost love. Main thing is, he fucking hates the sun, he likes the more subtle glow of lava (as well as it’s heat—it’s always cold for him on some level even when Wilbur gives him tea and makes him lay under the covers all day or when Tommy reluctantly lets him sit next to a torch Tommy was going to use for something—it’s still fucking cold and not to talk about the night). The sun isn’t even as fucking warm, he doesn’t really get all the love for the sun or why the zombie fell in love with something so horribly bright when there’s things far closer—he assumes the tale Phil used to tell him before sleep was made for a moral but still he cannot undead why to use the fucking sun when it could be anything else in the world.</p><p>“The blade needs some sleep,” Tommy speaks matter of factly, clearly back to being a gremlin child, “Or potatoes since he likes those so much.”</p><p>“I would assume sleep,” speaks Phil, looking at his three sons before his eyes stop on Techno, “I have to take care of something with Fundy, go to sleep. Wilbur, make sure Tommy doesn’t accidentally hurt someone or break something, okay?”</p><p>“Will do, dad.”</p><p>“When have I ever broken anything?” Questions Tommy, looking offended before huffing as Techno starts to list things Tommy has broken over the years in a monotonous voice, Tommy screeching that he didn’t actually mean that.</p><p>“Alright, Blade, come on. You too Tommy,” Wilbur speaks, “I’ll play you a song if you come with me—you can choose which one, Tommy.”</p><p>And with such a promise, the three brothers say a see you later to their father and migrate into their sleeping quarters, the father going to find a fox boy somewhere.</p>
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